Tuesday, March 27, 2018

The first of six encounter tables for the Foabeléth
Ordirrex, the megadungeon beneath Booezor. But first a small overview.

Minor
Dungeons: The Foabeléth
Ordirrex is comprised of many smaller minor dungeons, six of which
connect to the surface. Booezor is built on older layers of its
previous iterations, particularly the Ezordirrexian era when the city-state as one worked for the glory of the Autarch, and the elder
magic era, when the Sculpted Mountain and the first city was built.

Oldcity
Sewer System – the functional
and nonfunctional sewer systems of several iterations of the city
built on top of each other. A huge mess of tunnels and chutes that
spans more than twice the length of the city.

Tomb
of Mountain's Heart – its
earliest parts were dug deep into the heart of the Sculpted Mountain,
and the subsequent generational levels were stacked on top of each
other one after another as the city grew. It occupies little horizontal space but a great deal of vertical space.

Filth
Pits (Refuse Dump) – the size
of small town and with a population of people to match, the city's
dumping grounds have become their own multi-leveled ecosystem and
cave complex, eventually meeting the sewers or the twin underground
helical rivers.

Labrynthyne
– a quasi-extradimensional prison structure built to contain magic
users. It is filled with creatures that ignore, twist, or feed on
magic energies, convicts to dangerous (or hated) to kill, and beings
from other planes.

Moonmetal
Mine – silver IS magic in the
“Furthest Lands”, not a currency. Occasionally silver or
Moonmetal will rain down from the sky as meteorites. The most
closely guarded mine on the lower slopes of Booezor's Sculpted
Mountain was once a steady source of the magical metal.

Giant
Termite Mound – a great nest of giant termites at the base of the
sculpted mountain is believed to connect to the deeper parts of the
megadungeon.

5. Vampiric Moss –
inanimate hanging moss that drains the life force of a nearby
creature after establishing a link, consumes a set amount of hp, and
loses link when victim leaves its 30' area of effect.

6. Troggers -
frog-like, small, amphibious tribal people with a nauseating bodily
odor on land, known to eat anything they can fit in their overlarge
mouths.

15. Fasinaa
Sluicedwellers – several groups of fasinaa saurians have made their
homes in the sewer system that mimics the conditions of their
ancestral home, they may be civilized folk or deranged cannibals.

16. Delver Group –
a party of NPCs from the Delvers' Collective, going to or coming from
a mission in the depths.

17. Weird “Plants”
(1d4)

1. Purple Pipemoss
– multi-use moss that can be burned for lighting, smoked for
pain-relief, and is eaten by many sewer creatures.

Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Across the Thousand Oceans
from the continent of Fulcrise Haelere, the Furthest Lands unfold.
The highest peaked mountains, the most vast-reaching plains, the
deepest wettest jungles. An avalanche of life and a stampede of land
forms. The Furthest Lands are unknown to the outside as anything
other than an abstraction. They are the lands of primal monsters and
multitudinous magics, the beginnings and endings of stories. A fairy
tale in overgrown megaliths and myriad megafauna.The
animal/monster life here is drawn from a variety of sources:
currently living animals, particularly marsupials and birds, animals
from the Mesozoic era, animals from the Cenozoic era, inspirations
from the work of Wayne Douglas Barlowe, Clive Barker,
underrepresented mythology, and the curly Suessian reaches of my
mind.50,000 years ago, the greatest ancients waged an
incomprehensible war with their unknown enemy from the shining city
they had settled atop the Juum plateau. On the Day of the Black
Finger, darkness poured from the noon sun, the shining city was
destroyed, and Juum crumbled into a hole that never filled, an
endless depth called the Hive Mouth.Now, the races that lived in
the shadow of the ancients have cobbled together their own areas of
civilization in a land that resists taming. Here food is rarely a
problem, all environments teem with plant and animal life. Few
communities are truly agricultural and farms, like all settlements
must be defended constantly. This is the true problem in the
Furthest Lands: the environment quickly takes back from civilization,
roads and paths are consumed, monsters return, nature spirits incite
and seek to inhabit the people, and there are many many creatures
adept at predating humanoids. The only routes to holding back or
taming in some small way the wilderness is multi-species cooperation,
magic, or creating a symbiosis with it.Now, the unique living
magic of this place, the peculiarities of its geography and the
ruinous transformation that created the Hive Mouth have unbalanced
the vital energies of the world. This has resulted in the Furthest
Lands becoming a sort of planar sink. Magical travelers often
unexpectedly end up here from the Cross Continent and from throughout
the multiverse. Likewise, magical travel off continent is now
considerably more difficult, and escaping the bonds of the distorted
world itself near impossible.The Furthest Lands have a tropical
to sub-tropical climate and two major seasons. The dry, hot season
is called Sunhold and lasts two thirds of the year, while the cool,
wet season is called Stormseat and lasts the rest. There is a single
sun and single moon.This is a continent mostly without kingdoms,
where the few true cities have necessarily high walls and strange
rules. Outside the peoples’ scattered enclaves, the beasts and
nature spirits own the lands, lands that have swallowed up most
evidence of the past. This is a continent where journeys require
preparation and are never assured successes. Very few people venture
out alone, and the strongest and wisest know best when to run.

Here's a general overview
of the geographical areas. Many occur as the briefest note, some of
those I know about and won't get into until later, some I have the
vaguest idea beyond their name. A name is often enough...

Ten
Major Areas

Twin Cities AreaThe most
civilized and settled part of a savage continent.

Anderside
& Kraoshd, the Twin Cities - connected to each other across
the Ceresine River via Bruuhoila's Bridge (an immense stone bridge
that appears almost a natural landform, said to be built by one of
the iele First Magic users, a holy site). The bridge is usually the
simplest and least expensive way to cross the Ceresine, which is wide
and home to many hungry creatures. Each city is surrounded by a
90-foot stone wall with one major and two lesser gates.Known to
change hands quickly, the cities have alternately been united under a
single ruler, separate but trading, or openly at war. Each has been
nearly leveled in the past 200 years. The constant rebuilding and
periodic shifts in control create a riot of art, advertisement, and
architecture. Government and basic services are a complete mess at
best. The Twin Cities trade with a network of specialized farming
and fishing villages nearby, hunting settlements further out in the
Great Plain, the fishing nation of Rilm, Tauk Toma, and controlled
dealings with Soec. A huge amount of goods and services are found in
the two vast central marketplaces: normal and exotic animals, fish,
vegetables, textiles, weapons. Stalls, stands and hawkers of all
races line the streets, ready to haggle at great length, and
disappear with their wares in seconds at the slightest sign of
trouble in the market. Some stalls are built to slide back into the
store and close up with metal or chitin plated shutters. Merchants
and local shoppers are used to clearing out quickly to avoid
rampaging escaped animals, street fights, magical mishaps, and the
odd gang war or militant crackdown.The Twin Cities are the
launching point for countless caravans heading out across the Great
Plain(lower) Ceresine River - a wide, deep, wild river
teeming with animal life. The Twin Cities serve as the primary
crossing point, but barge passage can often be purchased at other
points downriver.Mygwa - a farming village in the shadow
of Anderside. Mygwans raise livestock here close to the river,
lappets and crenchies for clothing and armor.Mil Waite - a
farming village in the shadow of Anderside.the Blue Forest
- a dense jungle of strange plants, few of which are actually blue.
Beyond the slicers and and various wretched arboreal mammals, there
are metal ziggurats deep within that no plants will take root
on.Jaolis Tract - a broken forestland to the south of
Kraoshd.Kraok Marshland - a salt marsh, at the
southwestern edge of the continent.

Gragot Plain AreaA
gigantic open savanna with few areas of civilization.

West
Gragot Plain (the Great Plain) - the drier area of the plains,
with sparse vegetation. Spans from the the Nemeb River to
Kraoshd.East Gragot Plain (the Vash) - the lush part of
the plains, with more vegetation. Spans from the Nemeb River to the
Jungle Wall (the border of the Faakshidraa and Faakmataba Jungles to
the plains).Nemeb River - the muddy, slow-moving river
near the center of the plain.Sradahath - the waypoint
village, the most common stopover point on cross plain journeys. It
is surrounded by huge sharp rock spires, moved into place in ages
past by an unknown force. Sradahath is disproportionately heavy in
entertainment venues, like bars, brothels, and gaming houses. Most
extensive animal market on the continent. If a plains creature isn't
currently up for sale in Sradahath a deal can be made to procure one
readily.Gnarl - the village in the stump. Here a giant
tree grew from a gorge-like rock formation, ages past the tree was
gutted, either by fire, insects, or disease, and its enormous
hollowed remains became a defensible perimeter. Gnarl is
predominantly a hunting camp and trading post, lacking the space for
farming.

Ibisi – a Monster
Village.Aegir Tarn - the low southernmost mountainous
range separating the plains from the sea. Primary underground
nesting ground of the largest Mororca tribes.Rg’Zhd -
the ancestral Mororca Tri-horn lair deep in the mountains
underground. Home to the current Tri-horn's extended family.

Faakshidraa
Area

A land of endless
multi-level jungles.

Faakshidraa
Rainforest - the largest jungle of the
continent. Mostly held by the Fasinaa lizardfolk from their capital
city Fasinadas. This is a dense, dark rainforest made of immense
intertwining trees, parasitic and saprophytic flora. In its depths,
the Faakshidraa contains many naturally occurring layers which house
a variety of separate specific environments.

Faakmataba
Jungle - the so-called “Jungle of the
Elders”, second-largest on the continent. Lies across from the
Faakshidraa and is bordered on the north and west by the Jodah range.
A taboo place generally avoided by the Fasinaa.

Priiz –
a Monster Village.Fasinadas
- the capital of the Fasinaa lizardfolk
nation, a city carved into giant trees and the caves beneath
them.

Tsugumi's Mouth –
the southeastern delta lands. The richest and most contested
farmlands on the continent lie here.

Eerilke
Marsh - the winding marshland that forms the
southeastern edge of the continent.

Maes
Nassaa - "Best View”, a Fasinaa canopy
village at the southeast end of the Faakshidraa.

Mataba Ruins –
metal ruins of the ancients.

Shidraa
Ruins - the warped remnants of the Fasinaa
city Shidraa. Now overwhelmed by a massive fungal growth, stretching
miles underground.

Vailska -
the village at the edge of the Eerilke Marsh.

Tsku
Tskuun River - longest of the three main
rivers, it begins in the Jodah, curls all the way around the
Faakshidraa Rainforest and ends in Tsugumi’s Mouth.

Pofft
Coast Area

The
small coastal area around the Cratered Bay including the Cnatka Taer
and the villages at the edge of the Ridgewaste.

Booezor
the City of Magic - meticulously carved from
the top of the tallest peak of the Cnatka Taer, the Magic City’s
architecture is the most elaborate and fanciful anywhere on the
continent. The city is structured in tiers, five above the main gate
and three below. Entry lies at the end of a huge, wide, winding
stone staircase. The cabal of powerful wizards, scientists, and
archaeologists who call themselves the Children govern this place and
store their carefully hoarded knowledge here. The Children have kept
Booezor stable with clearly defined laws, and safe from most threats
that magic and money can combat. Population is predominantly iele,
though more chrichoral are found here than any other city. Booezor’s
economy revolves mainly around the trade of spell and magic item
components, which it lies in a unique position to monopolize. The
other major trade service is the sale of the Children’s restricted
magics like Space Magic (including teleportation), the group’s
catalog of true names, or certain powerful divinations. The City of
Magic trades with the Fasinaa realm of the Faakshidraa, villages
along the Pofft coast, and the eastern end of the Ridgewaste, and the
occasional caravan from the Twin Cities.

Werefti
Sea - the wide western sea.

Zhayshabbed
- a coastal town.

Northern
Waste - the sprawling badlands below the
Yarmir Tarn that stretch for endless miles. Commonly called the
Bloodless Plains, the Hollows, and Dust and Sighs.

Rilm the City of Fish - a
city built into and on top of cliffs hanging out over the Acris Sea.
Umash, iele, and Fasinaa boats set out from this rocky port to haul
in thousands of kinds of edible and otherwise useful sea creatures.
Seasonally afflicted by oppressive winds from the Glass
Waste.

Lassemedra’s Lip
- a deep oceanic trench that runs close to Rilm. Fish, whales, and
all manner of other sea creatures pour from it near constantly, in a
tidal cycle.

Abelwidt - a
Monster Village.

Five Oases -
the holiest site of the goddess Immacula, a Kiss Upon Seeds.

Arcris
Sea - the wild western sea, dotted with many
small islands and the archipelagos where the Gawshien and other
isolated tribes of iele live.

Shemna
Island AreaTwo large islands to the
northeast of the main continent. Home of the Shem empire that
periodically strikes at the mainland.

Oubliess
Sea - the quiet northern sea.

Kao
Shem - city of the Shem, curious geometric
stone structures protruding senselessly from an immense mass of
blue-white crystals. This is the Crystal Colony of the insectoid
abominations called Shem, where they each return once a month to
drink up reflected sunlight and keep their strange congress.

Lbon
Island - the smaller of the islands, avoided
or unused by the Shem and unseen by any from the mainland.

Vortice Tower -
a windowless, black stone tower suspended thousands of feet in the
air. This is the steed, the coffin, the forge, the manse and the
master is N’Gael.

Ig the City of Outcasts
- there is a great beast that wanders Cnacol,
burdened across its acres of back with a tremendous ball. Balanced
upon the ball is the point of an inverted pyramidal structure which
is the city of Ig. It has been hundred of years since any have seen,
let alone traded with the mysterious city.

Mount
Wendg – also
known as the “Dreaming Mountain”. Something sleeping beneath
projects its dreams across the mountain, and people are ensnared
within them.

Soec
Area

The
second most settled area, and the only one controlled by a single
individual.

(upper)
Ceresine River - a wide, deep, wild river
teeming with animal life.

Soec, City of
Monsters - the underground city of Soec is a
cleverly managed warren of depravity. If an act or good is illegal
in some other city, chances are it’s legal here. Soec is home to
over a dozen competing gangs who deal in drugs, slaves, dangerous
magic, poisons, assassination, and depraved craftwork.The
“street” tunnels are often several building levels high, and lit
by phosphorescent moss and fungi blooms. Alleys and disused streets
will have lower ceilings and have poor lighting (sometimes
luminescent lichen is the only thing to eat).Ovocil is, and has
always seemingly been the hidden ruler of Soec, his desires
accomplished by his Hands, Jaelek and Jaff. Jaelek the Right Hand,
is regularly visible and communicates on the master’s behalf. Jaff
the Left Hand, is rarely seen but is said to be responsible for the
assassinations of those who disobey or work against the master.
Ovocil demands toll fees through the city’s main gate, which is a
stable gateway to the deeps, as well as a tax on near every purchase.
Tax evasion is punishable by petrification, the statue-remains of
those who didn’t pay litter the central square.Unlike other
cities with a low population of iele, Soec is one of the most
diverse. Many creatures who could never be found in a lighted city
are seen here, naga, medusae, myconids, and stranger things from
below ground going about their business and carrying on as
normal.

Mumattoba Tarn
- the widest and tallest of the central mountain ranges that gird
Centerscar.

Kufis
- a town on the opposite side of the Ceresine river from Soec. Close
enough that the City of Monsters’ many gangs hold sway here as
well.

Tomadan Scrubland
- the disintegrating terrain at the borders of the vast Tomada
Yoma.

Pallenseil Plain -
the lowlands of the peaceful skies. Compared to the Gragot or the
Vash, the Pallenseil is an idyll. Though the farming is easy here
and the packs of animals and giant monsters fewer, entire towns can
still disappear seemingly overnight.

Peak
of Attalystor - the tallest peak of the
Mumattoba Tarn, source of the Ceresine.

Centerscar
Area

The ruinous wastes that surround the Hive Mouth.

Vriskirr
Lake - a great placid lake at the approximate
center of the continent.

Hive Mouth -
an infinitely deep hole? A well of cosmic evil? The resting place
of a falling star? A gateway to a greater darkness? A wound? A
womb? There are few who know of the great abyss that the Juum
plateau has become, and none who understand it. Year by year it
grows.

Rariidesht Desert
- the frozen desert. A quiet, apparently lifeless desert of fine
white sand during the day. The yawning winds of Centerscar make the
desert freeze each night,

Ria Vrika - the
short doomed flow from Vriskirr, fed to the Hive Mouth.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Monster
villages are the small, usually isolated habitations that occur frequently on the open terrain of the Gragot plain and other areas. Here in the wilds a symbiotic relationship is often the best way to achieve some kind of safety. Conscious monsters will
have an INT of at least 6, and are likely to be able to communicate
with villagers or at least the village elder(s) in one way or
another. I'm using these tables to generate the random villages players are likely to stumble across in the wilderness beyond the great cities.

Roll for your
village (1d20, 1d4, 1d6, 1d12, 1d20, 1d8, and 1d8). Start with general ideas and let the progression of rolls build the whole picture in your mind.

1.Monster (1d20)

1. Elder
Dinosaur – a tremendous dinosaur of great age, one of the three
classic forms: rex, tops, and brachy.